Kennett Square Borough unveils preliminary budget for 2020

11/08/2019 02:46PM
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By Steven Hoffman

Kennett Square Borough
officials offered a first look at the proposed budget for 2020, and as of now
there is no tax increase anticipated.

During the Nov. 4 council
meeting, Kennett Square Borough Manager Joseph Scalise outlined the proposed
general fund budget that totals $5,051,439. For the 2019 budget, the expenditures
were projected to be $4,904,409, so year-to-year expenditures are expected to
increase slightly.

Scalise said that the 2020
budget will not require a tax increase, and there are no increases in water,
sewer, or solid waste fees, either.

The borough manager
outlined some of the items that impacted the borough’s budget. He noted that
the borough retired about $1 million in debt during 2019. Additionally, the
borough saved about $226,000 by refinancing some of its outstanding debt, which
helps to offset some year-to-year increases in expenditures for 2019 and 2020.

The borough also completed
the sale of the Weinstein lot to the Kennett Library, which generated revenues
for the borough.

Looking forward to 2020,
Scalise said that the budget includes a two-percent increase in salaries for
uniformed personnel, which is contracted. There is also a three-percent
increase in salaries for the staff that is not contracted. Health insurance
costs are going up by seven percent, the borough manager explained.

One of the larger projects
that the borough is planning to undertake in 2020 is the Birch Street project
that has estimated engineering and construction costs of $710,000. The borough
received a $500,000 Community Revitalization Program grant to offset these
costs.

The borough is also
allocating $184,000 for paving program.

Based on the projected
budget, Scalise said, Kennett Square Borough will retire an additional $1.17
million in debt during the next year.

If the budget gets approved
as is, without a tax increase, the millage rate will remain at 6.75 mills.

Scalise said that the
proposed budget will be discussed again at the council meeting on Monday, Nov.
18.

Borough council has
tentatively scheduled a special meeting to discuss the budget on Monday, Nov.
25, but that meeting may not be necessary. The plan is to formally adopt the
2020 budget on Monday, Dec. 2.

In other business at the
meeting, Kennett Square approved additional change orders for the wastewater
treatment plant project. Overall, the change orders for the project have
amounted to about $180,000, which is about five percent of the total costs of a
project.

Kennett Square Borough
Council approved an easement agreement with the Kennett Library for the
Weinstein lot. There are water and sewer lines that run east to west through
the Weinstein lot, and the borough needs access to maintain those lines. The
borough sold that lot to the Kennett Library so that it could construct a new
library building on the site. The Kennett Library plans to relocate the lines
as part of the project to build a library on the site, but until then the
borough needs the easement agreement.

Borough council held a
public hearing regarding a proposed ordinance amending Chapter 18, the
Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, that specifically addresses the
section pertaining to parks and recreation.

The purpose of the
ordinance amendment was to bring that section into conformity with state
regulations, which have been changed in the last few years. The state
regulations now allow a developer to not just donate parks and recreation land
as a fee-in-lieu during the subdivision and land-development process, but to
also donate funding for the maintenance of that land that is being used for
parks or recreation.

Once the presentation about
the proposed ordinance amendment was made and the public comments were heard,
borough council closed the public hearing. There was no motion to approve the
proposed ordinance, so the borough will not be moving forward with the
amendment changes at this time.